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A Swiss Army Knife Life

By Hal Steenson

March 14th, 2026

“The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130.

I remember the first time I ever saw one. It was a sight to behold! My brother Johnnie brought it home from his Air Force basic training in 1955. I knew it must be one-of-a-kind, and my big brother was the owner of this fine red mechanical marvel with chrome trim and some sort of funny emblem on the handle.

I’d never seen a knife as wide as this one, and I soon found out why—it had more blades than Carter had little liver pills! Amazingly, none of the blades were the same—each one had a different look and function. The first one that caught my eye was a little pair of scissors. A little pair of scissors in a knife—how stupendous! There were also screwdrivers, a can opener, a bottle opener, and even a pair of pliers. It also had a file, a saw, an eyelet hook, a corkscrew, and two different-sized blades. But what truly overwhelmed me was the next feature from this red menagerie.

I watched as Johnnie slid a strange-shaped object from the end of the handle.

“What is it? What does it do? Tell me, tell me, please! A toothpick? Why in the world would anyone ever need that? That’s stupid!”

“Hal, this is a special Swiss Army knife I brought home for you,” Johnnie said, handing me the knife. “It’s yours, and I know it’ll come in handy. As the years go by you’ll use every blade and tool in it.”

Wow, what a weapon! I thought. At age seven, I imagined the horror of Americans fighting the Swiss Army, who possessed military technology like this! From that day on, I stood ready. If someone asked, “Does anyone have a corkscrew handy?” I would come to the rescue— ripping out my Swiss Army knife with confidence, knowing that it could meet every challenge.

Sadly, it turns out that very few people actually needed a saw blade or eyelet hook from a Swiss Army knife. But I did finally wear out the large blade by always cutting stuff, as little boys are prone to do.

Eventually, I put my knife away, but the life-lessons of that gadget stayed with me. Life sometimes resembles those Swiss Army knives, you know. We educate ourselves and obtain all the Swiss Army “bells and whistles” to raise our self-esteem and impress others. However, many of the “blades” are nothing more than paper degrees hanging on walls, or trivial trophies gathering dust in a corner case. There are many highly esteemed “tools and blades” in life that in reality are almost useless. Should our driver’s license ever be more important than our marriage license? Or should our doctorate in something ever be elevated above our love for someone?

The important tools in life are the ones we’re called upon to use on a daily basis. They’re the uncomplicated “blades,” like saying, “Please,” and “Thank you,” or “Yes, sir,” and “Yes, ma’am.” We should wear out the vital “blades” of grace, mercy, and love every day, and pray for God to continually replace them. We should earnestly seek to use our Swiss Army Knife Bible “openers” to open our hearts to feast upon God’s Word. In addition, we must take our spiritual “scissors” and cut away any action that is not compelled by compassion.

If we would just use the simple, God-given, common sense tools we have and stop waiting for complicated tasks to demonstrate our Swiss Army knife abilities, we just might get more accomplished for God’s kingdom.

Oh, and by the way, I used that stupid toothpick more than anything else.